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. 2014 Apr 3;508(7494):72-5.
doi: 10.1038/nature13155. Epub 2014 Mar 26.

A ring system detected around the Centaur (10199) Chariklo

F Braga-Ribas  1 , B Sicardy  2 , J L Ortiz  3 , C Snodgrass  4 , F Roques  2 , R Vieira-Martins  5 , J I B Camargo  1 , M Assafin  6 , R Duffard  3 , E Jehin  7 , J Pollock  8 , R Leiva  9 , M Emilio  10 , D I Machado  11 , C Colazo  12 , E Lellouch  2 , J Skottfelt  13 , M Gillon  7 , N Ligier  2 , L Maquet  2 , G Benedetti-Rossi  1 , A Ramos Gomes Jr  6 , P Kervella  2 , H Monteiro  14 , R Sfair  15 , M El Moutamid  16 , G Tancredi  17 , J Spagnotto  18 , A Maury  19 , N Morales  3 , R Gil-Hutton  20 , S Roland  21 , A Ceretta  22 , S-h Gu  23 , X-b Wang  23 , K Harpsøe  13 , M Rabus  24 , J Manfroid  7 , C Opitom  7 , L Vanzi  25 , L Mehret  10 , L Lorenzini  26 , E M Schneiter  27 , R Melia  28 , J Lecacheux  2 , F Colas  29 , F Vachier  29 , T Widemann  2 , L Almenares  17 , R G Sandness  19 , F Char  30 , V Perez  17 , P Lemos  31 , N Martinez  17 , U G Jørgensen  13 , M Dominik  32 , F Roig  1 , D E Reichart  33 , A P LaCluyze  33 , J B Haislip  33 , K M Ivarsen  33 , J P Moore  33 , N R Frank  33 , D G Lambas  34
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A ring system detected around the Centaur (10199) Chariklo

F Braga-Ribas et al. Nature. .

Abstract

Hitherto, rings have been found exclusively around the four giant planets in the Solar System. Rings are natural laboratories in which to study dynamical processes analogous to those that take place during the formation of planetary systems and galaxies. Their presence also tells us about the origin and evolution of the body they encircle. Here we report observations of a multichord stellar occultation that revealed the presence of a ring system around (10199) Chariklo, which is a Centaur--that is, one of a class of small objects orbiting primarily between Jupiter and Neptune--with an equivalent radius of 124 ± 9 kilometres (ref. 2). There are two dense rings, with respective widths of about 7 and 3 kilometres, optical depths of 0.4 and 0.06, and orbital radii of 391 and 405 kilometres. The present orientation of the ring is consistent with an edge-on geometry in 2008, which provides a simple explanation for the dimming of the Chariklo system between 1997 and 2008, and for the gradual disappearance of ice and other absorption features in its spectrum over the same period. This implies that the rings are partly composed of water ice. They may be the remnants of a debris disk, possibly confined by embedded, kilometre-sized satellites.

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Comment in

  • Solar system: Ring in the new.
    Burns JA. Burns JA. Nature. 2014 Apr 3;508(7494):48-9. doi: 10.1038/nature13218. Epub 2014 Mar 26. Nature. 2014. PMID: 24670646 No abstract available.

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